K.L. ThomasEmily Bennett, Jeff Sproul, Annelise Rains and John Hardin in The Horse Trade Theatre Group’s “Lines”
When was the last time you went to a play where you were asked to sign a petition to release a political prisoner before getting to your seat? “The play deals with human rights, so it makes sense that we would be here,” the woman from Amnesty International explained to me. “The script is very powerful.” With these words and director Heidi Grumelot’s introduction emphasizing the play’s interest in social justice, “Lines” was framed: I was ready to have my mind blown by some political theater.
And yet, if I hadn’t been told the play was about human rights, I’m not sure I would have known.
“Lines” is set in an imaginary country where an actual line has been drawn, segregating blacks from whites. On one side of the line is white funeral director Doc; on the other is Bullet, a black football coach. Their lives get intertwined in scandal when a young black man, Keys, dies on the “white” side. Doc’s decision to bury Keys, which breaks the town’s segregation laws, leads to a series of mix-ups and subplots — some funny, some somber. Read more…
Despite blog chatter about tables arriving in the dining room, Tom Birchard, owner of Veselka, tells us that the Bowery outpost of his Second Avenue fixture won’t open for about four to six weeks. Veselka Bowery is currently staffing up via Craigslist, but one position in particular remains to be filled: “We’re having a really hard time finding an executive chef,” said Mr. Birchard.
As The Local has noted, Malgosia Sibilska has been making the restaurant’s borscht for about 30 years. Mr. Birchard described the rest of the kitchen staff as “a really good team of Polish and Ukrainian ladies.” The new restaurant, however, will offer “more upscale, refined, creative dishes,” and so Mr. Birchard is looking for “a chef that has gotten around and done stages with the more accomplished chefs like Daniel Boulud or Jean-Georges Vongerichten, but also has a love and appreciation for Eastern European peasant food, or comfort food.” Read more…
Stephen Rex BrownSigns outside of the shuttered Nublu.
Presenting DocuDrama, in which The Local has a look at documents that dramatize goings-on in the neighborhood. Today, a look at Nublu’s fight to reopen at its Avenue C location.
One of the East Village’s last bastions of avant garde music has been forced to leave its home on Avenue C after an anonymous tipster alerted State Liquor Authority investigators to its proximity to a Kingdom Hall belonging to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Now, Nublu is hosting shows in the basement of Lucky Cheng’s while the owner of the business, Ilhan Ersahin, struggles to find a loophole in liquor laws so that he can return to his original location.
“Really honestly and truthfully, I had no idea that the building across the street was a house of worship until six months ago when I received this letter,” Mr. Ersahin wrote in a letter to the liquor authority in May. (You can see the full letter as well as other documents below.) “I just don’t think it’s fair to blame me for all of this and after nine years in good, willing business.” Read more…
The lines are sure to get longer at Motorino now that its Williamsburg location has closed. Fret not: DNAinfo has more on earlier reports that NoLita pizzeria L’asso is opening an outpost at 107 First Avenue. Partner Greg Barris admits “there’s an endless amount of pizza in that neighborhood,” but wants in anyway: “The East Village is more classic New York City.”
WPIX interviews Aaron Goldblum, the Fordham Law student behind the “Rats of Tompkins Square Park” trailer, and gets still more footage of rodents chasing squirrels and pigeons. A resident says dogs are getting rat-borne illnesses at the park. Meanwhile EV Grieve notices some new “Feed a pigeon, Breed a rat” signs.
Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York musters an overview of “the battle for Astor Place— and how Cooper Union helped hatch the plan to turn Astor Place into a suburban office campus.”
EV Grieve points to a trove of photos of the neighborhood from the seventies and eighties taken by East Village resident Michael Sean Edwards.
Last week the Boston Herald reported that sales of vinyl are up— in fact, they’re on track to hit a two-decade high this year. Don Rieth knows this very well— for the past twelve years, he’s been selling LPs out of his minivan at Astor Place. Urmila Ramakrishnan reports.
Stephen Rex BrownThe Flea Market Café, hours before it will reopen.
Workers at the Flea Market Café have swept up the ashes and are preparing to reopen at 5 p.m. — less than 24 hours after an alleged arson left the eatery a messy crime scene.
While cleaning counter tops earlier today, the manager of the restaurant, Haveen Bonnet, bemoaned the blaze that has been the talk of the neighborhood.
“Two napkins catch on fire and the fire department comes in and smashes everything,” Mr. Bonnet said as deliverymen hauled in fresh loads of food. Read more…
Mike Zohn of Obscura Antiques got a reality show, and now another one of the neighborhood’s antiques-and-oddities dealers, Billy LeRoy, is giving him company in the limelight. DNAinfo points to a new energy drink ad that stars the Billy’s Antiques impresario giving The Most Interesting Man in the World a run for his money with lines like “Do you want to be me? I want to be me,” and “I’m not on Facebook, but I will be soon.” (Turns out the latter isn’t a joke: Billy’s created a Facebook page a few weeks ago.) Best line: “What is it with you guys with the flip-flops?”
According to Grub Street, the 2nd Avenue Deli opened its Upper East Side location today. The Jew & The Carrot interviews owner Jeremy Lebewohl, and NBC New York reports that Jeremy and his brother Josh have decided to “rededicate themselves” to the hunt for the killer of their uncle Abe, by upping the cash reward to $150,000. Meanwhile EV Grieve follows the deli’s van and finds that it doesn’t always lead to “the best chopped liver” as advertised.
As seen on EV Grieve, the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors and others are circulating a petition to make sure the circa 1818 Federal-style house at 135 Bowery becomes a landmark.
An East Villager tells The Post that he thinks Gavin DeGraw is getting preferential treatment from the NYPD— the police have posted fliers in an attempt to find the singer’s attackers.
The owner of the building that formerly housed Sin Sin tells DNAinfo that plans to turn the ground space into a bakery are off the table. Read more…
Last time the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck updated its blog, the East Seventh Street store was due to open in mid-August. Well, it’s mid-August, and there is still no sign of the Choinkwich. What gives? Yesterday, owner Doug Quint explained in a blog post that final electrical upgrades were set to start this week, and “could take up to two weeks- but hopefully less.” In the meantime, he has a request: “Please, I do ask you refrain from tweets and Facebook posts asking when we’re going to open. After two months and thousands of such messages, it’s really just becoming overwhelming.” So relax already, and maybe head up to the Cape this Friday to catch the truck’s pop-up event there.
The Dieline points out that The Blind Barber has teamed up with Joya to create custom candles. One of the scents in the so-called “Tompkins” line is “Smoke.” If that conjures images of tents being torched or trash barrels being used for warmth, rest assured that the smells were inspired by the East 10th Street barber shop, not by the park.
A fire scorched the interior of Flea Market Café today at around lunch time. A spokesman for the Fire Department said the blaze broke out at around 1:23 p.m. and that 60 firefighters arrived at the scene on Avenue A between St. Marks Place and Ninth Street. Within 20 minutes the fire was under control, and one firefighter was treated for minor injuries, according to the spokesman. Shortly thereafter, the dining room was a singed mess, and burnt tables and chairs were strewn about the sidewalk. An acrid odor still hung in the air.
An employee at Nino’s next door reported seeing a napkin holder on fire before the flames spread. The cause of the blaze is still being investigated, according to the spokesman.
According to I Love East Village, a local arts group is looking for volunteers to paint an entire block of roofs on East Fourth Street. The White Roof Project, working with Fourth Arts Block, says the project will demonstrate that white roofs lower the temperature in the area, which in turn reduces demands on the power grid.
Since 2008, East Village audiences have been entertained, even seduced, by the monthly burlesque show “Revealed” at UNDER St. Marks Theater. This Wednesday, the show will come to an end so that producer and performer GiGi La Femme can pack her bags for Nashville after three decades in New York City. (“Not only do I love Nashville,” she explained over e-mail, “but I’ve got a super wonderful man and puppy named Milo waiting for me when I get there.”) Here she reflects on how she started in burlesque, what she’ll miss about the Village, and her plans after the curtain falls.
Q.
How did you get your start?
A.
It was in February of 2004 when I saw my first burlesque show with my cousin, Scarlet Sinclair. Shortly thereafter, Scarlet began her journey within the blossoming BurlyQ scene and I tagged along for the ride, supporting her at every show I could get my bottom to. Read more…
Last week’s episode of “Louie” stopped into East Village Wines, and last night’s episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” had an East Village arc, too. Sort of.
Early in the episode, Larry visits Veniero’s, the 115-year-old pasticceria on East 11th Street, and takes a loaf of Italian bread to Suzie’s dinner party “around the corner.” (You’ll forgive the grainy and inverted screen grabs.)
Funny thing is, an establishing shot shows the dinner party isn’t around the corner at all. Doesn’t this avenue look suspiciously like Central Park West? Read more…
A reader points out a movie trailer that puts a cinematic spin on the Tompkins Square Park rat infestation. Or is it an invasion? Watch the video above. Meanwhile, rats aren’t the only nuisances in the park. Neither More Nor Less has photos of a Friday afternoon arrest.
According to The Post, an appeals court has given Jerry Delakas, operator of the endangered Astor Place newsstand, until at least November.
The Times profiles Paul Marino, a manager at Hearth and half of the duo Popeye & Cloudy. They perform Shakespeare scenes and Abbot and Costello bits on the subway.
New York Magazine sits down with actor, director, and former St. Marks resident Vera Farmiga at her beloved Ukranian East Village Restaurant. “Farmiga mentions, without disapproval, that it smells like an old gymnasium.” Read more…
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K.L. ThomasEmily Bennett, Jeff Sproul, Annelise Rains and John Hardin in The Horse Trade Theatre Group’s “Lines”
